It was great to be back at the Tomohawk Domain Hall on Saturday for the Annual TK cowan Race. This is such a challenging and fun race, and we were really lucky with the weather again. This course has it all. Steep hills, Gravel, grass, sand, and road. The perfect setting to run your legs off.
We had 28 people compete across the races, and it was really nice to see other clubs (Leith and Ariki) athletes join in on the event. Listening to Bruce Cowan (the son of TK Cowan) talking about the history of the event was particularly interesting. The event was initially created to be as difficult as possible by the Prespeterian Harrier Club, and they invited Dunlaider and the Mornington Harrier clubs to join in on the event. Eventually the 3 Clubs all merged to become Hill City. The Next club merger was with the University club, and now this forms the amalgamation of the 4 clubs. This is how we became Hill City-University. It’s really nice to see that the events culture is still strong in bringing people together from different Dunedin clubs. This year a closed car park allowed us to make the course even more challenging, which was great for the people who like the punishment.
Rumor has it that Sarah Warner bribed her handicap (not really-just a good run) to allow her to run away to a 3 minute victory. However, since she is not Hill City-University affiliated it was Merrilee Cowan who claimed line honours and took home the trophy for this year. Such an awesome achievement for Merrilee, and I am sure it was made even more special since the race is named after her Grandfather, and her father (Bruce) was presenting her the winning trophy. Second women home was Barbara Patrick, who had a strong run. Third home was Anya Rhodes in her first time competing in the 8km, seriously impressive stuff. First Man home was the experienced TK Cowan performer Phil Morris, followed by Dwayne Sheddan with a good run, 3rd man went to Elliot O’Sullivan. Men’s fastest times went to Josh Hou, Elliot O’Sullivan, and Dwayne Sheddan. Women’s fastest times went to Shireen Crumpton, Sarah Rhodes, and Georgie Pakeho. Lachlan Crumpton takes home the colts trophy in the 5km event. A full set of results can be found at https://hillcity.org.nz/2020/07/18/tk-cowan-provisional-results/, well done to everyone that competed.
Thanks very much to all the volunteers that help with everything that goes into these events. There are always a large number of people that help, and I know that we are thankful to all the individuals who support the club through volunteering.
